


Flora

by madness_on_the_milano



Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies)
Genre: Adoption, Coming of Age, Father-Daughter Relationship, Father-Son Relationship, Multi, Papa Drax, Teenage Groot, parenting
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-22
Updated: 2018-04-22
Packaged: 2019-04-26 07:42:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,841
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14397438
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/madness_on_the_milano/pseuds/madness_on_the_milano
Summary: The Guardians have no idea why the people of Lignum Venatores, the Venatorians,  look at Groot with such fear, until Groot meets one of his own kind and must come to terms with some unpleasant truths. Meanwhile, Drax finds himself feeling an emotion he has not known since the deaths of his wife and daughter and struggles with the person he is feeling them for.





	Flora

The planet they were on was beautiful. After saving the inhabitants from an attack by a horde of what Peter could only describe as "hugely pissed off space hornets", they were well due some gratitude. The only thing he didn't like was how they looked at Groot. As if he was some kind of monster rather than an occasionally grumpy teen who didn't like tidying his room anymore and was developing a gaming addiction that would have put teenage Peter's to shame.

Oh, yeah, quality time. His and Rocket's idea from many, many centuries ago. Perhaps not really centuries, but it sure felt like it. He waited patiently at the front door of the palace-like building they were being accommodated in and was eventually rewarded with the sight of Groot rather reluctantly strolling over with Rocket who was shaking his head at his companion's grumbles.

"Groot, there's natural light out here and it's good for you. Quit whining!"

_"I_ am Groot."

"No, buddy, _I_ ain't whining here. Now, listen, I've got two jetpacks and a football. You know what I want to play?"

Groot stopped in his tracks and Peter smiled to see how he brightened. "I am Groot!!"

"That's right. Air Catch. Aren't you happy now?"

He sure was. He was so excited at the prospect that he took one of the jetpacks from Rocket and hurled it at Peter so hard that it knocked him over. "Groot!" Peter chastised lightly. "Not so hard."

"I am Groot."

"That's okay. Just remember your own strength next time." Peter slipped it on and soon rose in the air next to Rocket. "When you're ready!"

Groot threw the football at Rocket who caught it and tossed it to Peter. Peter made to throw it back to him, but Groot shot out his vines and actually grinned at them - something he hadn't done in a very long time.

"Yeah, yeah. Don't look so smug!" Rocket called down to him. "Throw it again!"

Groot threw it. He must have forgotten Peter's gentle warning about minding his strength for he hurled it directly into a forest not any less than half a mile away. _"I am Groot!"_

"Hey, come on now. No cussing like that!"

Peter let himself drift down and looked up at Groot. "Why don't you get it, buddy?"

"I am Groot."

"You guess, do you?" Peter smiled at him and watched as he walked across the field into the woods before giving Rocket a very sharp glare.. "Just so you know, I blame you entirely for his language."

Rocket gave him an outraged look. "Why the damn hell are you blaming me for?!"

* * *

 

The forest was a pretty cool place as far as Groot could see. There were brightly coloured birds and things that looked and felt like him but couldn't move. "I am Groot," he said to each one, just in case they could hear and were just shy. He looked everywhere for the stupid football, but couldn't find it on the ground anywhere. He was just about to give up and head back when a movement caught his eye. The first thing he saw was one of the things that looked and felt like him. Then he realised that it had his football. He stepped closer to it. "I am Groot." _'I want my football please.'_

"I am Groot." _'What are you doing here alone?'_

Groot stared at it in shock. "I am Groot?!" _'You're one of me?!'_

The other Groot knelt before him. "I am Groot." _'Where are your parents?'_

Groot paused. He didn't actually know. He knew that his father had the exact same name he did, but little else. "I am Groot." _'I don't know.' "I am Groot." 'But my family are by that building over there.'_ He pointed out toward the field.

"I am Groot!" _'That can't be right!'_ the other Groot rubbed his head in confusion. "I am Groot." _'Our kind is despised here. They hunt us and burn our children in their fires.'_

Groot shivered. "I am Groot." _'My family wouldn't let them do that to me.'_

"I am Groot?" _'How did you come to have these creatures as a family?'_

"I am Groot." _'I don't know.'_

The other Groot handed him back his football. "I am Groot?" _'Well, wouldn't you like to meet your own kind?'_

Groot could hear Rocket calling him. He looked down at the forest floor. "I am Groot?" _'Can I come back tomorrow morning?' I never knew there were others just like me.'_

"I am Groot." _'Of course. Everyone will be very happy to see you.'_ The other Groot lightly touched his head and wandered deep into the forest until his wooded body disappeared, blended in with the other trees.

"Groot!" Peter ran over to him and looked up at him, panting. "Jeez, we were worried!" He reached for his shoulder and pulled him into a hug. "Don't scare us like that again, okay?"

"I am Groot."

"It's okay. Do you still want to play Air Catch?"

Groot shook his head. "I am Groot."

"That's okay. We can play tomorrow." Peter kept an arm around his back and started guiding him out of the forest. "Weren't you scared? This place is creeping _me_ out."

"I am Groot."

"Yeah, well, you're the tough guy."

Groot wondered about asking Peter if he knew if he had a mom or dad. But what was the point? Peter was his family, and so was Rocket, Drax, Gamora and even Mantis. He didn't need his mom or dad and sure didn't want one bossing him around. Peter did enough of that already. But, his father's people....there was a question he'd never wondered and was now beginning to think very hard about.

* * *

 "Goddammit!"

Gamora watched Peter rifling through his bag, cursing violently as he did so. "What's wrong?"

"Our _treenager_ stole my music again!"

"Alright, looks like it's me to the rescue again!" Gamora went to Groot's room to confront him, reminding herself to be calm and patient, or at least one of the two, when talking about theft from family members with their teenager. He didn't do it to be an asshole. He just...forgot. She took a deep breath and knocked on the door. "It's Gamora." There was no answer which was strange, so she took it as an invitation to simply walk in. He lay curled up in a bed of leaves, the music player on his pillow, his big golden brown eyes fixed on the screen. "Groot?"

Groot heaved a very deep sigh and pointed at the screen. "I am Groot?"

Gamora froze. "Excuse me?"

"I. Am. Groot?"

Oh, shit. Trust it to be her to get the big questions. "Your, uh, father's people...Well..." She couldn't tell him. She didn't know where to begin. She didn't know _anything_ about Groot's question. "Come on. The others will be able to tell you things that I don't know."

"I am Groot!"

"Every creature in the universe is different." Gamora said gently.

"I am Groot!" Groot snapped and a tear spilled from one of his eyes.

Gamora rubbed his arm. "Hey. There is nothing to hate about you, okay? Come on." She opened her arms and he soon held onto her, slightly crouched so she could cuddle him better. Teenager or not, he still thrived on affection, not that he would admit it. "Let's find Rocket."

* * *

 

 Rocket was doing something that looked very dangerous involving a pair of needle-nose pliers and a long, thin blue wire the exact width of one of Gamora's hairs. He ignored him- or so it would seem to the untrained eye, but Groot could tell by the way he deftly sped things along in his creation, that he meant to be done in time before Groot became bored of waiting and wandered off. Gamora had left him with a reassuring squeeze to his shoulder and now he waited for Rocket to finish. "I am Groot?"

"No, I'm seriously not done yet. You don't wanna see this pretty shiny building blow up, do you?"

No, he didn't really, so he sat down on the floor. Rocket didn't like him touching wires because they could be flammable. Once, when he'd been a tiny sapling who had barely mastered walking, he'd found the oven, so warm and very inviting with the door left open and had wandered inside, finding a flame of such a pretty magenta shade that he'd excitedly shoved his entire hand in it. He could still feel the pain if he thought very hard about it and the look of horror on the other Guardians' faces when they'd seen him running around with his arm ablaze to his elbow. He'd ended up losing that arm and had been very mournful, until it had grown back. He gave the blue wire a distrustful glare and shuffled away, not even looking at it until Rocket reached for his wrist. "Okay, what was so important?"

"I am Groot?"

Rocket stilled, though he didn't stop looking at him. "That's...That's a fair question. You remember the story of how you came to be, right?"

Groot really loved that story. His story. He shook his head to say 'no', in the hope he could hear it again.

Rocket wasn't fooled. "I can see that grin on your face, you lyin' brat!" But he wasn't angry. Rocket was never angry with him. He was sometimes angry with Drax and Gamora and always seemed to be having a huge argument with Peter, but he never, not once, was mad with Groot. "Well, you do know it," Rocket told him. "So, you know your dad and I were really good friends, right?"

Groot nodded because he did know that. They must have been the very best of friends for Rocket to have wanted him so badly. "I am Groot."

"Alright, best friends, whatever. Well, your dad and I met in a place, a real hellhole of a place and he made it bearable in there for me, up until the day we escaped. Before we ended up in there, your dad lived on a beautiful world called Planet X. And that was where he was sprouted, where he grew up. But one day, it was destroyed by another race who knew that Flora Colossi fetched a damn good price on the black market. Those who weren't killed were captured and your dad was the only one to survive the journey to where he and I met."

"I am Groot?"

"No. I think you might be the only one left now."

It made no sense and he looked at the floor thoughtfully. What about the one he'd met, Spinam? "I am Groot," he confessed quietly. He knew it was wrong to talk to strangers, but Spinam had been one of him.

"You met one?" Rocket looked disbelieving. "Groot, are you sure about this?"

"I am Groot."

"Okay," Rocket carefully placed his newest design out of harm's reach. "Okay, then, show me where this guy is, will you?"

 

 


End file.
